Founded in 1864, the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) is one of the largest and oldest enduring advertising agencies in the United States. Hugh P. Connell was an executive with JWT during a twenty year career in which he held positions of General Counsel, Vice President and Director of JWT, and Executive Vice President and Director of JWT's parent company, the JWT Group Inc. The Hugh P. Connell Papers cover the years 1926-1986, with the bulk of materials dating from 1966-1986, roughly the period during which Connell served in an executive capacity for the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) and the JWT Group Inc. The collection primarily consists of correspondence, memoranda, financial reports, organization charts, marketing plans, meeting agendas and presentations. Many of the materials pertain to the investments of the company, as well as employee stock ownership programs. Also includes correspondence and reports pertaining to JWT subsidiary companies, including Deltakos; Doremus & Co.; Euro Advertising; Hill & Knowlton Inc.; Lord, Geller, Federico & Einstein (LGFE); and Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB). Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

The Hugh P. Connell Papers cover the years 1926-1986, with the bulk of materials dating from 1966-1986, roughly the period during which Connell served in an executive capacity for the JWT Company and the JWT Group. The collection primarily consists of correspondence, memoranda, financial reports, organization charts, marketing plans, meeting agendas and presentations. Many of the materials pertain to the investments of the company, as well as employee stock ownership programs. Also includes significant amount of correspondence and reports pertaining to JWT subsidiary companies, including Deltakos; Doremus & Co.; Euro Advertising; Hill & Knowlton; Lord, Geller, Federico & Einstein (LGFE); and Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB); and Survival Anglia. the bulk of materials is in English; some correspondence and memoranda are in Spanish.

Access Restrictions

Collection is restricted.

Materials pertaining to individuals' employment are closed to non-JWT researchers for 40 years from the date of termination of the employee, or for 25 years from the date of the death of the employee, if termination date cannot be determined.

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Conditions Governing Access note

Restrictions on Access: Materials pertaining to individuals' employment are closed to non-JWT researchers for 40 years from the date of termination of the employee, or for 25 years from the date of the death of the employee, if termination date cannot be determined.

Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Includes primarily correspondence and memoranda related to financial, organizational and planning aspects of JWT. A significant portion of the files pertain to the company's stock investments, and to employees' stock ownership programs. Includes reports by Morgan Stanley, the brokerage firm which handled many of JWT's investments. Also includes marketing plans, documentation of employees' trip expenses, descriptions of company policies, and reports on the functioning of the company. Original folder titles were maintained and items were arranged alphabetically. Materials containing sensitive employment information have been removed to Restricted Materials.

Agency Performance Evaluations, Guidelines and Format, 1981

Box 1

Board room doodles, 1982

[Includes doodles made by Connell during board meetings.]

Box 1

Clients, 1975-1981

Box 1

Communications (internal and external), 1977-1978

Box 1

Compensation project, 1980

Box 1

Corporate administration, 1972

Box 1

Corporate objectives, 1976-1977, 1980-1981

(2 folders)

Box 1

Desk book, 1980-1981

(2 folders)

Box 1

Directors biographies, 1976-1980

Box 1

Equity project, 1973-1978

Box 1

Executive Committee handbook, 1983-1984

Box 1

Executive and operating structure, 1977

[Some items removed to Oversize Materials.]

Box 1

Federal Trade Commission, 1977-1981

Box 1

General management files, 1980-1981

Box 2

Goals and objectives, 1978-1981

Box 2

Illegal payments, 1976-1978

Box 2

Insider information, 1974-1978

Box 2

Internal Revenue Service, 1976

Box 2

International offices, miscellaneous files, 1981

Box 2

Don Johnston memos, 1976-1981

Box 2

Legal and Financial Responsibilities of Directors, 1972

Box 2

Listing applications, 1969, 1971

Box 2

Local Equity notes, 1981

Box 2

Media, 1977-1982

Box 2

Memoranda, foreign interoffice, 1972-1979

Box 2

Personnel files

Benefits of a Director of a Financial Nature in Addition to Salary, undated

Contains correspondence, memoranda, agendas, minutes, reports, presentation scripts, and other documents relating to meetings of JWT committees, groups, managers and staff. Also includes files related to celebratory dinners. Items were arranged first alphabetically by meeting title and then by date.

Contains contracts, monthly statements, correspondence notes, charts, minutes, and other documents pertaining to JWT's domestic and European subsidiaries. Also includes files relating to subsidiary acquisition prospects. Subsidiaries represented include the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton (the world's largest public relations firm at the time JWT acquired it in 1980); the British production company Survival Anglia (which specialized in wildlife and environmental themes; the health care advertising house Deltakos; the Wall Street advertising house Doremus & Co.; the New York-based advertising agency Lord, Geller, Federico & Einstein (LGFE); the network of Euro Advertising (the New York anchor of which was run by LGFE); and the consumer behavior research firm Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB). Original folder titles were maintained and items were arranged alphabetically.

Restrictions on Access: Materials pertaining to individuals' employment are closed to non-JWT researchers for 40 years from the date of termination of the employee, or for 25 years from the date of the death of the employee, if termination date cannot be determined.

Contains large-format materials, primarily charts, removed from previous series. Also includes a series of mounted pencil sketches depicting the 1965 Manager's Meeting in Milan. Items were arranged alphabetically by folder title.

In addition to his work for JWT, Connell served as a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, and as Trustee of Moravian College, the Rippowam-Cisqua School of Bedford, New York and of the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. He belonged to the American Society of Corporate Secretaries, the American Bar Association, the American Society of International Law, the Pilgrims of the United States, New York City's Union Club, and Stonington, Connecticut's Wadawanuck Club. He was also active as an airplane pilot, squash player, and watercolor painter, and raised Old English game birds.